Overview
This is a Fix Package that I have compiled for Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition on Steam. The aim of this Fix Package is to address issues with the game – both technical and gameplay-related – as well as to bring back the many missing songs that have been cut out of this game due to an issue with the licenses to them expiring. Compiling them in such a fashion, and merging files of the mods together, means less work for the end-user and a lot more convenience which is ultimately what I try to do with all of my guides.Inside the Fix Package there is also an optional mod which greatly enhances the blood splatter and effects in Grand Theft Auto IV.The files that are included in this Fix Package will NOT stop you from earning Steam achievements.*** All credit goes to the respective authors of the mods and plugins which can be found in the “Thanks” section of this guide
The Fix Package itself
Download link (all conveniently placed inside one compressed .zip file): [link]
In case you’re worried it may be infected by viruses… I don’t have much to assure you other than my reputation on Steam and the fact I’ve made a similar Fix Package for a game called Deadly Premonition, as well as many other Steam guides for different games. Normally I’d link a virustotal scan to prove the file is squeaky clean but since this .zip file weighs in at 711 MB (far above the site’s maximum size allowed) I can’t do that with this file unfortunately.
What it contains
This Fix Package contains:
> a GTA IV soundtrack downgrader made by Sam Lake ( [link] ) and is contained within folder “A. Original Main Soundtrack”
> a hotfix for the soundtrack mentioned above ( [link] ), an “Ultimate ASI Loader” made by ThirteenAG( [link] ), an unofficial patch dubbed “FusionFix” made by ThirteenAG ( [link] ) and a plugin called “ColAccel” made by NTAuthority ( [link] )… all of which are contained within folder “B. Hotfix, ASI Loader, Fusion Fix AND ColAccel”
> an “Exaggerated Blood” mod (version 1.16) made by dDefinder ( [link] ) contained within folder “C. Exaggerated Blood mod”
And, of course, three text documents. One that tells you how to install all of this, another that gives credit to all the mod authors and another detailing what this section and the next section of the guide states 🙂
What does it do?
Folder A of this Fix Package brings back the previously cut radio stations and tracks which have been removed patch after patch (mostly due to expired licenses and Rockstar not renewing them)
Folder B gives us a hotfix for the soundtrack mentioned above, an ASI Loader which allows for the mods in this folder as well as folder C to function within the game, an unofficial patch which corrects a number of issues – both technical and gameplay-related – that are still present in the game (more on that below) and also the ColAccel plugin which greatly improves loading times by creating a .dat file after the game is first loaded, cutting load times by as much as 50% or more.
Folder C has an optional mod which I find necessary given how little blood is present in GTA IV compared to the other games in the series, and what this mod does is that it changes how the blood looks, its size and how long it stays in the game (a worthy mod in my opinion).
FusionFix changelog below (taken directly from [link] ):
Fixed recoil behavior that was different when playing with keyboard/mouse and gamepad
Fixed forced “definition off” setting in cutscenes, now cutscenes will respect the menu setting
Partially fixed emissive shader bug, namely BAWSAQ building is still rendered incorrectly, but the rest of the lights are now present in the game (e.g. Rotterdam Tower, Comrades Bar area)
Fixed DLC car lights in TBoGT
Tree foliage casts dynamic shadows instead of static
Fixed handbrake camera, that doesn’t work with high fps
Added various frame limiting options to address cutscene zoom and other fps related issues
Fixed aiming zoom in TBoGT
Added an option to skip intro
Added an option to skip main menu after startup
Added an option to force borderless windowed mode
Added an option to fix mouse
The main menu is skipped AND I can’t choose the Episodes From Liberty City chapters
Navigate to: C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonGrand Theft Auto IVGTAIVplugins , and open the “GTAIV.EFLC.FusionFix.ini” file. From here, change “SkipMenu = 1” to “SkipMenu = 0” (without quotation marks). The same applies to any other fixes you may or may not like. 1 at the end means a feature is enabled whilst putting a 0 instead of a 1 means it’s disabled instead.
Once you’ve made your changes… make sure to SAVE the file. And that’s it.
Issues with Rockstar Social Club and/or Launcher?
I highly recommend deleting the Rockstar Games subfolder in both of these directories:
‪C:Program Files
‪C:Program Files (x86)
Then uninstall both Rockstar Social Club and the Rockstar Launcher via the Control Panel.
Lastly navigate to: C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonGrand Theft Auto IVGTAIVRedistributables and run both the files there (I recommend running the Social Club file before the Launcher file).
*** Episodes Soundtracks and Unified Lore Mod
By downloading and using this mod may cause your game to crash. By proceeding, you acknowledge that this might ruin your GTA 4 installation and create issues with saving progress or random crashes.
The folder in this section of the guide, that you can download, contains a “Unified Lore” mod made by Jinx ( [link] ) and the
3 Episodes From Liberty City radio track files exclusive to the retail release.
What this does is it offers some more radio stations cut out of the game with the strong possibility of causing problems mentioned above. If you wish to use this folder, the download link can be found below (328 MB): [link]
To install it, simply copy all the files inside this folder (except for the text documents) and paste them inside: C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonGrand Theft Auto IVGTAIV
Thanks
Thanks goes to the following authors who have made fantastic contributions to the modding scene and GTA IV in general:
* Sam Lake who made the GTA IV soundtrack downgrader and additional hotfix
[link]
* Jinx who made the Unified Lore – EFLC Retail Radiostations mod
[link]
* ThirteenAG who made the Ultimate ASI Loader and the FusionFix unofficial patch
[link]
[link]
* NTAuthority who made the CoalAccel plugin
[link]
* dDefinder who made the Exaggerated Blood Mod
[link]